Quadco continues reorganization

STRYKER – The boards at Quadco Rehabilitation Center (QRC) are planning to reorganize at the first of the year. Executive Director Bruce Abell said their attorney has done research into the organization’s history and reviewed their structure and recommended that the center have two separate boards as the center completes plans to privatize.

The move will not really be much of a change, Abell said, as the boards could continue to meet together, as they now do. He said the Non-Profit Board would end up processing most of the business, and the Administrative Board would handle the few remaining public functions.

Abell shared a recent update sent out from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities that said that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had given the county boards until 2024 to privatize their services. However, he pointed out that almost half of the county boards have already taken the steps they need to take to privatize their services.

He said the measures the QRC boards need to take are very simple, will satisfy the new requirements of CMS and bring to rest any questions of a conflict of interest in dealing with the center.

Abell said that shortly after the last QRC joint board meeting, he received a request from the four county commissioners to hold a meeting to talk about the buildings Quadco uses. That meeting will take place on Thursday at 1 p.m.

Abell said he believes the meeting will be to discuss the history of the buildings, who owns the buildings and how they have been maintained, how they have been expanded through the years to accommodate the needs of the people with disabilities being served and see if they want to do anything different with the buildings in the future.

Abell said there may be an impression with the privatization that some action may need to be taken about the buildings, but Abell says no action needs to be taken about that.

He told the board members, “I think the perception has lingered on that Quadco is somehow a county board, or part of a county board or an extension of a county board, and I think a lot of people may believe that, but we’re not. So, really, nothing needs to be done about the buildings.”

The board members reviewed and approved the calendar for 2016.

The board members also approved the 2016 budget. The budget is likely a temporary one, as Terry Fruth, director of finance/MIS, pointed out that he expects to revise it as the board reorganizes in January.

Abell announced that Sharon von Seggern of Stryker has purchased the Subway and Mama DeLuca’sPizza Now! restaurants from the center. She has been managing the restaurants in Stryker and in the Walmart stores in Bryan and Defiance owned and operated by the center for a long time, as well as serving as the manager for Quadco’s Northwest Employment Services.

Abell introduced Rachel Lange from Stryker who is doing job development at Northwest Employment Services. She reported that four people the job service has been representing have recently been employed. She said they are working with 11 people in job development.

Lange said one of the things they did recently was to take a couple people to a job fair to get acquainted with some area companies and see if they could find a good job opportunity.

Program Director Philip Zuver showed the board a video of the new cardboard pallet building machine. The machine is now in operation at Northwest Products in Archbold. He said the sale of cardboard pallets showed a marked increase in the past month.

Bill Priest, director of marketing, reported that the center received a donation from Bryan Knights of Columbus for $371.30 and a donation from the Blakeslee Knights of Columbus for $79.20. The donations were from the annual Measure Up campaigns held by the local councils.

He also mentioned the annual Halloween party was going to be held this Friday, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Stryker building.

The next QRC joint board meeting will be held on Nov. 24 at noon in the Stryker conference room.